A comprehensive dictionary of organ stops - Allen Organ Studio of ...

Virginal—Virgin-Regal. See Regal.
DICTIONARY OF ORGAN STOPS. 175
In some of the specifications given in Hopkins' and Rimbault's treatise,
this name is translated as Virgin-Royal.
Vogar = Fugara. Walterhausen.
Vogelflote— (Ger.) Vogel = bird. 4 ft.
A Flute of liquid " bird-like " tone. Quittelsdorf. cf. Philomela.
Vogelgesang—Vogelgeschrei. (Ger.) Vogel = bird; Gesang = song;
Geschrei = cry. See Avicinium.
Yoix Celeste—Vox Angelica, Vox Ccelestis, (Sp.) Voz Celeste.
Under which is comprised Viole Celeste. (Fr.) Voix, (Lat.) Vox
= voice (Fr.) Celeste, (Lat.) Ccelestis = heavenly. See also
Vox Angelica. 8 ft.
A stop purposely tuned slightly fiat or sharp to the pitch of the organ,
so that, when drawn with another stop, a pleasant undulation of tone is
induced. The first such stop introduced into this country was a Vox
Angelica in the organ at the Panopticon, Leicester Square, W. (now the
Alhambra), built by Messrs. Hill in 1853. Originally two Dulcianas, or a
Dulciana and a Gamba, were so requisitioned, but of recent years it has
become customary to employ two keen Gambas or Viols. If any distinction
of terminology be observed at all now-a-days, Vox Angelica is employed to
designate the more colourless and lighter effect of two Dulcianas, and
Voix Celeste or Viole Celeste the animated and orchestral pulsation of
keen Gambas. The effect of the Viole Celeste is so highly suggestive of
the combined " strings " of the orchestra, that in naming the stop some
builders have elected to press into service the plural number. The motive
is sensible enough, were the idea systematically and consistently carried
into effect, but there is every bit as much reason to speak of Voces
Humana?, or, in a lesser degree indeed, of Flutes, Oboes, etc. The Voix
Celeste is almost invariably enclosed in a swell box. A Vox Angelica
planted on the open Choir soundboard occurs, nevertheless, in the Dome
Organ t Brighton (Willis).
The statement is commonly made that the better effect is obtained
when the ranks of the Celeste are well differentiated in tone—that a Gamba
beating against a Dulciana gives a more pleasing effect than one Dulciana
beating against another. Nevertheless, this differentiation of tone militates
against the purity of the effect, the distinction being expressed, in a
nutshell, by the difference between "waving" and "wobbling." The effect of
a Celeste depends greatly on the "tempering" or "grading" of the tuning
through the compass. For instance, the beats in the bass should be very
rapid. Frequently,, in the attempt to minimize the proneness of the ranks
to the tiresome phenomenon known as "sympathy," the interval separating